Generally, a fishing reel, as disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Gazette No. Sho 60-168375, includes a spool rotatably supported to a reel body for winding thereon a fishing line and a drag mechanism applying a braking force against rotation of the spool. A rotary adjuster is provided at the drag mechanism to an adjust a braking force applied thereby, to enable the drag mechanism to exert a predetermined braking force against rotation of the spool.
The braking force of the drag mechanism is preset to an optimum value by rotating the adjuster corresponding to a target fish and can be increased or decreased during fishing.
The conventional fishing reel, however, has no display for indicating the intensity of the braking force setting of the drag mechanism, whereby a problem is created in that an angler cannot check whether he has set an accurate optimum braking force of the drag mechanism corresponding to the target fish.
When angling the same kind of fish, it would be desirable to be able to put the adjuster in the position at which the optimum braking force is obtained for fishing. The adjuster, however, during fishing is rotatably adjustable from the position where the braking force is minimum to that where it is maximum. It is difficult to return the adjuster to the optimum adjusting position with accuracy after the adjuster has been operated corresponding to a hooked fish. Accordingly, even when the angler intends to angle the same kind of fish having approximately equal pulling forces when hooked, the adjuster changes in position every time a fish is hooked, thereby creating a problem in that a proper braking force cannot readily be obtained.